A green group on Monday called on the government to build a reusable cup system at Kai Tak Sports Arena to reduce waste created at mega events.

This came after Greenpeace conducted a study during the Lunar New Year Cup that attracted some 20,000 people at Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday.

They reviewed how many items of disposable cutlery and containers were given out among the five food vendors operating at the 16 shops which were open 45 minutes before the match started and during the intermission period.

Over 12,000 disposable items were distributed during these time periods.

“We used this data to amplify and estimate the number of disposable items that would be distributed by the Kai Tak sports centre in the coming year. We found that if there is a 100 percent occupancy rate [of 50,000 people] at 40 sports events yearly, there would be [more than] one million disposable items distributed to the audience,” said campaign officer Leanne Tam.

Tam said the predictions did not include disposable paper cups provided at the 20 water fountains during previous trial events.

The group urged the administration to allocate HK$10 million to develop a reusable cup service in which spectators can return the cup after events for washing.

Tam said such services are not new to the city.

“In the 2019 Rugby Sevens, Hong Kong tried to implement the reusable cup service. Greenpeace has also implemented a community programme to provide reusable cups to cafes two years ago, and we have successfully saved over 10,000 cups with 50 cafes,” she said.

She added the government should take the lead in waste reduction and provide reusable cups for stores at the venue, so spectators can choose more environmentally friendly options.